I'm clearly not impartial here, but it's endlessly fascinating how so many regard modern AI as superior, when your typical data centre requires it's own power grid that drains multiple reservoirs to *almost* do what the average human brain can achieve with less power than a filament light bulb
Wife and I raising a glass to the latest great Patrick Stewart tonight.
NB: I appreciate that it should be a full bodied French bordeux, rather than a mid-range pinot grigo from the nearest shop, but our taste in wine is pedestrian at best.
Currently stood at the exact location of the Blood-Brain barrier (one for my neuro/biomed crew, this one)
Basically, if anything I've ever done has been of use to you or anyone you value, you can ultimately thank Sir #PatrickStewart for it happening. I've no doubt the same applies to countless others.
Godspeed, my Captain. You made it so.
8/8
And Stewart carried this over into reality, by essentially becoming the avatar of positive masculinity, in so many different ways, from passionately advocating for women's rights and against domestic violence, to his meme-generating bromance with this gay bestie. All the more important and impressive when so many others view being a prominent old rich white guy as a blank cheque for being the worst possible human imaginable.
7/8
That one's principles are more important when it would be easier to abandon them, not less. The profound point that "It is possible to make no mistakes, and still lose". Presenting resorting to violence as a failure to be avoided at all costs, and that it's possible to find common ground with even the completely alien.
6/8
And so, the course of my life was set.
It's only with his passing that I realise the impact Patrick Stewart, as Picard and beyond, had on me. Remember that he did for the Trek franchise what Robert Downey Jr did for the MCU, and then some. But he was such a powerful, compelling presence on screen, and this was used for good over and over, to deliver many vital messages.
That discussion and dialogue *are* important and impactful, and not boring or pointless.
5/8
I had NO CLUE when this show would be back on or if I'd get to see it. But I kept seeking it out even so.
This turned me into a dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie (he said, to the sound of zero surprise), but also is my earliest memory of suddenly liking science, and finding it interesting. All those big complex words, all the technology, all the 'figuring things out', all the questions like 'Could you *really* connect peoples brains through computers?" And this enthusiasm stuck.
4/8
So I don't know how or why I spent the next 40 minutes glued to the screen, on tenterhooks, as these creepy cyborgs in a cubic ship threatened to destroy everything. And then they kidnapped the bald boss, and TURNED HIM INTO ONE OF THEM! I don't know if I've ever been so invested into a TV show, before or since.
And then the most horrifying thing appeared on the screen. The words 'To Be Continued'. It was terrestrial TV in the South Wales valleys in the early 1990s.
3/8
Who was that literal white guy? Or the big dude with the lumpy head? Why's that woman wearing a purple dress? And who's the bald man in charge? Because he clearly was in charge. Even as a primary school kid who knew none of these people, there was no question about that whatsoever.
Obviously, I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, a show I had no interest in or awareness of.
2/8
It surprises many, but as a younger kid, I was never really interested in science. I found it tedious, frustrating, needlessly complex.
That was until one day when I wandered into the front room, where my mother was watching this colourful show about an eclectic bunch of characters on a spaceship.
She said it was Star Trek, but it wasn't. I'd seen Star Trek, it was those films where that bunch of middle-aged people in red tried to kidnap whales or shoot God in the face, or something.
1/8
Isn't it a bit weird how so many populist efforts to gain power involve voter suppression? Like, if you really were supported by the vast majority, who are sick of being downtrodden by a tiny elite, then surely you'd want as many people voting as possible?
You know how about two months' worth of the usual rain went missing this Summer? Well it's just turned up in Cardiff.
Is anyone doing any research into how AI posters/flyers/ads all look completely different but exactly the same and so obviously AI, all at the same time? Because I reckon there's a lot of interesting useful data to be had there.
What idiot calls their far-right dating site 'WhiteDate' and not 'OKKKCupid'?
Right-wingers invoking the 'silent majority'
But the thing about the silent majority is, if the majority of people have decided to stay silent about something, then they clearly don't want it talked about, possibly because they know it's bad/wrong. So we should respect that. Because democracy
Confessions of an official waste of taxpayer’s money
Being deemed an official waste of government funds in a feeble attempt at political point scoring that's then amplified by the mainstream media is an odd experience.
My latest post explains my side of the story (seeing as nobody else asked)
